Says it’s an opportunity for government to support competition and consumer choice
OTTAWA – The Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC) is supporting City Wide’s petition to the Governor in Council, which asks it to vary the CRTC’s decision to deny City Wide’s 2020 application regarding Eastlink’s third-party Internet access (TPIA) point of interconnection (POI) in Nova Scotia.
City Wide wants the CRTC to order Eastlink to move its TPIA POI from the rural community of Pennant Point to a location in the core of Halifax, or alternatively, for the CRTC to regulate the rate the company charges for its transport services. The independent Internet service provider is arguing the cost of Eastlink’s transport services to Pennant Point is a “significant barrier to competition”.
Eastlink is the only company that provides transport services to Pennant Point, which City Wide has argued gives it an undue preference while subjecting City Wide to an undue disadvantage.
Since the CRTC denied City Wide’s original application, the service provider has submitted a review and vary application to the Commission and filed a petition to the Governor in Council seeking to have the decision changed.
“City Wide’s petition raises important anti-competitive concerns that call for the government’s immediate attention, particularly in these challenging times with the rising cost of living that has made it harder for consumers to pay the exorbitant Internet fees,” reads PIAC’s submission in support of City Wide’s petition to the Governor in Council, filed today, which was obtained by Cartt.ca.
PIAC further expresses concern in its submission more generally about the state of wholesale competition in Canada, arguing Bell’s recent acquisitions of EBOX and Distributel and Quebecor’s acquisition of VMedia are signals of “a deeper problem that is an unworkable wholesale regulatory framework, which has historically and unfairly favoured incumbents over competitors, with the latter either forced to shut shop or join one of the incumbents.”
The consumer rights advocacy organization argues this is an opportunity for the government to show it values competition and consumer choice.
“Rather than relying on the Commission which has time and again proved its bias towards incumbents and facilities-based competition, it is high time the government mustered some much needed courage and took a step towards enabling service based competition to fairly compete and survive in the retail wireline market,” the submission says.
